ARCADIA, Calif., Oct. 24 (UPI) -- Mother Nature is messing with Saturday's $14 million Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championship races at Santa Anita Park.
An expected break in a brutal heat wave has failed to materialize and temperatures for Saturday's eight championship races are expected to be in the 90s.
And brush fires around the Los Angeles area, while not threatening the track itself, Friday began depositing a light drift of ashes on the grandstand. Smoke and haze partially obscured the San Gabriel mountains, across the highway from Santa Anita.
The weather is a particular concern for European horses, who shipped across an ocean and a continent only to run in unaccustomed heat. None of the previous runnings of the Breeders' Cup has had to contend with temperatures in the 90s but those run in humid 80s in South Florida have taken their toll on the Europeans.
However, the only early defection was Friday's withdrawal of Sarafan from the $1 million Mile. While Sarafan is locally based, he is ticketed for the Japan Cup and the Hong Kong Cup championship races later this year. Trainer Neil Drysdale said the 6-year-old "looks as if he might be coming down with something."
